County Animal Response Team keeps pets safe

JoJo, a Yorkie-Pomeranian mix, was the first visitor to the Lehigh Valley's Hurricane Sandy emergency animal shelter Monday afternoon.

It's safe to say that JoJo got lots of attention for what turned out be a brief stay. He had seven volunteers from the Lehigh Valley County Animal Response Team to himself — and rewarded them by dancing around on two legs, among other cute antics

The CART volunteers and the quarters set up near the Red Cross emergency shelter at 2121 City Line Road, Bethlehem, represent a terrific step forward in solving a problem dramatized during Hurricane Katrina.

"Pets have become such an issue now with evacuations and disasters," said Lehigh Valley CART spokeswoman Donna Lagomarsino. "It's one more piece that emergency management has to look at."

No matter how great the danger to themselves — and first responders trying to coax them — some people refuse to evacuate their homes because they don't want to leave their pets behind and most shelters won't allow pets. During Katrina, not only did people's love for their animals result in many owners risking their lives by refusing evacuation, but the lack of a plan for animal evacuees left tens of thousands of former pets fending for themselves all along the Gulf Coast.

Congress passed the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act in the wake of Katrina, requiring states seeking FEMA assistance to accommodate pets and service animals in their disaster evacuation plans.

Pennsylvania had adopted the concept of a State Animal Response Team the year before, spurred by similar animal tragedies arising from Hurricane Floyd. It has resulted in county animal response teams all over the state.

The one serving Lehigh and Northampton counties is staffed by about 35 well-trained volunteers. The group is just completing a successful effort to raise money to equip every Lehigh and Northampton county fire department and police canine unit with pet oxygen mask kits.

I decided months ago to write about Lehigh Valley CART. I've been waiting for an event that would show the group in action.

Hurricane Sandy was perfect, although it was far from the first time CART has been deployed. Lagomarsino said it set up a year ago at the former Troxell Middle School to respond to power outages arising from the Halloween snowstorm. Centers also were created in the wake of the Allentown gas explosion and when a neighborhood was evacuated because an alleged methamphetamine lab caught fire.

In addition, Lagomarsino said the team has been called to respond to individual cases, such as farm animals running loose, a horse that had rolled down a hill and become trapped and a dog caught in a sinkhole. She said one of the group's trailers is stocked with equipment for large animal rescues and recaptures.

Ideally, the evacuation site for the animals can be set up near the one for people, as was the case with the City Line Road facility. JoJo's owner, Amber Terry, lives in a Hellertown area neighborhood where people were urged to evacuate because of their proximity to a rising creek. She was shuttled to the CART garage from the nearby American Red Cross shelter, filled out paperwork, posed for an identification photo holding her dog and handed over his food dish. CART Assistant Chief Dani Butz encouraged Terry to return to visit with JoJo once she and her mother were settled in the shelter, although Terry later found a neighbor to take him until they could return home.

Lagomarsino recalled the arrangement at Troxell last year. "We were fortunate enough to be able to set up the animal component and people-sheltering efforts right on opposite sides of the school," she said. "So people could come over and visit with their animals. It makes the people feel better, and it makes the animals feel better."

Butz walked me around the City Line Road shelter Monday afternoon. Dog crates were stationed at one end of the room with space for cats at the opposite end and an isolated area for sick animals, if necessary. Food, bowls and other supplies also were on hand, although people are encouraged to bring food, medications and other items for their own animals if possible.

I revisited late Tuesday morning and found two volunteers watching a cockatiel and a cat. Later arrivals included a dog and a lizard, which requires a warming light and thus needed shelter when its owner's power went out.

I also visited a second CART shelter at the AgriPlex at the Allentown Fairgrounds, set up in the back of the room Tuesday in conjunction with another Red Cross shelter for evacuees. Lagomarsino told me they were expecting a dog shortly.

The bottom line in this crisis was that while people may have had their reasons for not wanting to evacuate their homes, the welfare of the pets didn't have to be one of them. That's a very good thing.